VIDEO: Teamster Convention

Watch five days of the 28th International Brotherhood of Teamsters Convention in 11 minutes. For many, the highlight was the singing of Christopher Duffley, a 10-year-old boy who was born blind and autistic but with an amazing voice. Danny DeVito was a huge hit as well, suggesting we outsource the CEOs and bring the jobs back to the USA.

There are plenty of other highlights as well -- you'll just have to watch the whole thing.

(UPDATE: Forgot to mention, just about anything you want to know about the Convention is at www.teamster.org/convention. We still have a few things to update, but most of it is there.)

Solidarity.

UAW prez's rock 'em, sock 'em speech

Here's UAW President Bob King at the Teamsters convention this week in Las Vegas. It's 17 minutes long, but it's worth it. Some favorite lines:

It's not just a war on unions or union workers. There is a war on all workers in the middle class in America...

There is not a democracy that exists today without a strong middle class, and the only thing that ever built a middle class is unions and the institution of collective bargaining...

I am not willing to accept a young man giving his life to protect our freedom and coming back to America and not being guaranteed a job...

The Teamsters and the UAW, together we built the middle class. We built the middle class by having big dreams. We do not dream big enough today...

It is not about a single election. We've got to win in 2012. We can win in 2012, but then we've got to keep alive a social justice movement that will march on Washington if the Democrats don't do what they're supposed to do...

'We're angry,' says Crumlin at IBT convention (VIDEO)

Teamsters vowed to organize in the face of resistance by anti-union political regimes and by powerful multinationals during the second day of their 28th Convention.

They passed several resolutions about global solidarity, including one that stated,

...the future of working people and the future of our great Union depends on our ability to organize the unorganized and to build alliances with workers throughout the world.

Another resolution honored Mansour Osanloo, the leader of the Tehran Bus Workers Union, by making him an honorary Teamster. Osanloo was sentenced to five years in prison in July 2007 after being dragged from a Tehran bus by Iranian security forces. He was charged with “acting against national security” and “propaganda against the state” because he helped found a democratic trade union for bus drivers in Tehran.

Paddy Crumlin, president of the Maritime Union of Australia, gave a rock 'em, sock 'em speech about sticking together. He said

We are here because we are angry about what is being done to workers and because we want to do something about it.

Together, brothers and sisters of the Teamsters, we are the difference for working people and their future.

Teamsters passed a resolution supporting global solidarity that said, in part,

...the International Brotherhood of Teamsters recognize that the future of working people and the future of our great Union depends on our ability to organize the unorganized and to build alliances with workers throughout the world. We will particularly focus on the global supply chains where we are uniquely positioned to build Teamster power...

Follow convention proceedings here.

The Teamsters are in the building

It’s hard to get noticed in Las Vegas, but several thousand Teamsters, their families and guests are managing to do it. Proud Teamsters in their Teamster gear paraded through hotels, met in conference rooms and rehearsed their appearances on the grand and glitzy stage. Outside the Paris Hotel, tourists took photos of Teamsters posing in front of the gleaming red-white-and-blue Teamster semi-tractor trailer from Joint Council 42.

Teamsters from all over the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico are gathering today for the first time in five years. Day One’s agenda of the 28th annual IBT convention is focusing on the War on Workers, combining solemnity with fervor, formality with music, world-renowned celebrities and rank-and-file Teamsters.

General-Secretary Treasurer Tom Keegel -- aptly introduced as "a Teamster's Teamster" -- said the war on workers is going full blast. Keegel set the tone with his vow:

There’s no way they’re going to bust us or take us down because it ain’t gonna happen.

The morning began with a rock ‘em, sock’em, opening: an ear-splitting drum tattoo, a throng of protesters waving “Stop the War on Workers signs, "We Won't Get Fooled Again," and yes, a dozen Harleys roaring through the enormous hall.  

Teamsters quickly dispatched committee business – appointments, reports and resolutions.

And then the first resolution: Vision, Solidarity, Action.  Teamsters resolved to fight the war on workers. We'll have that for you soon.